Left to Survive
by annaxmolly
Summary: What if the survivors got to the evac. in New Orleans but never got to safety? With no hope for CEDA the survivors must figure out what to do now, without any plans to speak of. I'm not so good with summaries. and horrible with titles. M for the number of F-bombs.
1. Chapter 1

_So, hello. First and foremost I want to say, this is my first time publishing here, so please, be gentle. Also, I'm putting this up here for me. Don't take that as me being bitchy, because it's not my intention. I wanted to post this somewhere and wasn't about to put it on d__A. So I figured I'd do it here. So, if you like the story, great! If you don't, well, that's great too. If the characters seem out of character and you have any tips to correct that, do send them. Keep in mind, since I'm doing this for me, it won't be updated quickly or all the time. If I hit a block, lose my muse, etc, obviously it won't be updated until I'm over all of the above. Also, this story will contain two OCs of mine and a friend's, and they have been paired with Nick and Ellis, though it's not the in your face 'love at first sight' kinda thing. That being said, here's my story. c:  
_

_Oh! I don't own L4D, just my OCs, all that disclaimer stuff.  
_

* * *

Caroline opened her eyes with a groan and looked around. The first thing she noticed was that it was dark outside, the light from the moon barely leaking into the helicopter's small windows. She sat up, putting a hand to the back of her head with a wince, 'Must've hit it good when the chopper jerked.'  
"Caroline," she heard from somewhere near her, Nick, she assumed they were all in a pile somewhere,  
"You alright?"  
"I think so," she moved her hand to squint at it in the low light, relieved to find it clean of blood,  
"Yeah, yeah I'm okay." She confirmed,  
"What happened?" she asked, glancing around to find her favourite blonde. When she found her she got up to check on her but halted as the helicopter groaned in protest.  
"Well, let's start with the obvious," Nick started,  
"we crashed. 'Kay, we know what happened. I think the question we should be asking is _why_."

Caroline slowly moved to where Daisy lay and checked her for any major injuries. She heard a groan.  
"What 'appened?" Ellis. Upon finding Daisy in one piece, Caroline shook her lightly to wake her and moved to check on Ellis.  
"We crashed." She said softly, feeling one of his arms for blood.  
"Is everybody okay?" He asked, silhouette moving as he looked around in the dark.  
"So far." Caroline murmured.  
"Coach?" The youngest male questioned.  
"Right here, boy." Caroline heard from somewhere near where she'd first woken up, also hearing Ellis sigh in relief.  
"Don't look good everyone," the chopper groaned once more,  
"we're all caught up in a tree. Pretty high up by the look of it." Daisy whimpered softly.

"Alright, first order of business, get the fuck out of this tree." Caroline slowly got to her feet, looking around. The chopper creaked and shifted slightly making everyone stop dead.  
"Guys, more bad news," Caroline turned toward the voice of the youngest male,  
"we're nose to the ground." She heard someone groan,  
"Fan-fucking-tastic. This just can't get any better can it?" Nick asked sarcastically.  
"Well, let's see if we can't open up the doors from in here." With that the group started feeling along the walls, floors, ceiling, anywhere for something that might open the door. Caroline's hand hit something sticking from the wall, she pressed it lightly, feeling it give slightly,  
"Might've found it ya'll." She pushed it and with more creaks and groans the doors above them slowly opened, revealing the night sky.  
"Let's get this over with…" Daisy groaned. Caroline heard soft low pitched murmurs that she couldn't really understand, though she guessed it was Nick, along with a soft noise of compliance and they started their escape.

"After this, I'm a God damn avi'aphobe." Caroline complained, glancing down at her feet to step to the next branch down.  
"Yeah, because every helicopter you ride in is gonna go down." A voice from above her said. She smirked,  
"Shut it, Nick. Asides, iffin I can remember it correctly, the last chopper we was in went down too. So there."  
"Guys I can see lights!" Ellis exclaimed happily, interrupting whatever retort Nick was going to give, if any. Caroline looked up to see the young man pointing, she followed it and lo and behold, there were actually lights in the distance. Faint, but there.  
"Alright, don't lose that direction. We're gonna hafta go through quite a bit of trees." Coach instructed. Everyone made a mental note.

Upon exiting the forest the survivors had discovered they'd crash landed in a forest somewhere outside St. Louis. It was nearing twilight now.  
"Safe house ahead." Caroline looked ahead and spotted the red door they'd long since learned to look for. 'Thank God.' Caroline thought, she was dead tired, no doubt they all were, rest was very welcome. Upon entering the house Coach sent Ellis to the basement, Nick to the second floor, and took it upon himself to secure the ground floor. Caroline and Daisy stood idly by the front door. Ellis returned not much later,  
"Basement's safe." Caroline looked around, spotting a light switch by the door and flicked it upward for the hell of it, gasping when the room became bathed in light.  
"Second floor's safe- the powers working?" Caroline nodded, flicking the switch back off then on again.  
"Yeah, but who knows for how long."  
"You think the water's still on too?" Caroline had to laugh softly at how hopeful the ex con sounded.  
"Well, power's working, city has power, water might be on. Seen few zombies, this city hasn't been abandoned very long. Maybe got picked up by CEDA." Coach supplied, re-entering the foyer.  
"That's…one theory." Nick replied, unconvinced, before disappearing back upstairs, no doubt to check the showers. Caroline smiled, shaking her head.

"Bed time. Now." Caroline announced before collapsing on the larger of two couches in the living room, toeing her shoes off, letting them fall to the floor with a soft _**thump**_. Everyone followed her lead and found somewhere to sleep. Ellis poked around in the kitchen a bit before moving into the living room, where he collapsed into a very uncomfortable looking chair. The living room was dark now, but Caroline noted, graciously, that Ellis had left the stove light on in the kitchen. It's light in her field of vision but not in her eyes.  
"Ellis, babydoll, what're you doin'? You should find a bed, or take that other couch, at least." He looked over to her and smiled sheepishly, like he'd expected her to be asleep already.  
"I'm alright, couch's probably to small anyhow. 'Sides, someone's gotta keep watch." Caroline sighed,  
"Honey no one asked you to do that." He shrugged,  
"Don't reckon I'd be able to sleep anyhow." Caroline bit her lip and shivered as an unexpected breeze blew through the room. She got an idea and looked to Ellis,  
"Think you could keep watch from the couch?" He looked over at her, confused,  
"Well yeah, but I ain't gonna-" She was up and out of the room before he could finish. She re-entered, a blanket in hand and pointed at the couch.  
"Lay. Get comfy." Ellis chucked and rose from his chair.

With Ellis settled comfortably on the couch, Caroline squeezed next to him, her back to the room, facing him and the back of the couch. She closed her eyes, ready to settle down to sleep when she felt herself slowly slipping off the couch. She grabbed at his arm and started to pull herself back onto the couch when without warning Ellis grabbed her and rolled them over, putting her between himself and the back of the couch, chuckling at the small yelp she made when he did so. Caroline huffed softly,  
"Warn me next time." She smiled softly though, and cuddled up to him, pulling the blanket she'd retrieved over them.

Now safe from the cold and of falling off the couch Caroline closed her eyes and let sleep over take her, but not before feeling the kiss Ellis pressed to her forehead.


	2. Chapter 2

_This chapter's pretty dialogue heavy. If ya wanna review, go for it. c:_

* * *

"Okay, CEDA's officially on my shit list. Any ideas?" The next morning the question of what to do came up.

"Well, CEDA's useless, so why don't we just keep moving? Maybe go to the next city, wherever that is." Caroline suggested, daring a look into the fridge.

"What else is there to do? Right now that seems like our only option. Look around, see if there's anything we can use."

"Hey guys! Git down 'ere!" Caroline closed a cupboard she had been rummaging through and ran to the basement door where she'd heard Ellis' voice. 'Guess he found something.' She followed Nick down the stairs but stopped when she saw Ellis' find.

"This…is awesome." Ellis was grinning ear to ear. There was about ten different weapons and ammo to last them a while.

"Alright we have guns. What about food?" Nick questioned, El pointed to a small closet. Caroline walked over to it and pulled the small door open,

"Holy crap."

All she could do was stare for several moments until a voice brought her back,

"What is it?" Daisy asked, walking over. Caroline grinned and turned to her friend,

"We have food!"

"Really?" Caroline nodded and pulled the older woman next to her, a finger pointed into the small pantry. Most of it was canned fruit, some soup and several bottles of water in bulk.

"Someone was prepared." Daisy muttered,

"What you guys lookin' at?" Coach had ventured downstairs as well,

"We got guns an' food Coach." Ellis sounded proud once more.

"Wonder how long this house has been empty," Daisy thought out loud and pushed cans around to see what other contents the pantry held.

"Working electricity, plenty of food, water, and guns, I'd guess not long. Still thinkin' they got picked up by CEDA." Coach sounded hopeful still. Caroline rolled her eyes,

"Yeah, because CEDA is just _so_ good at their job. Coach, you got too much faith in CEDA. If they did anything right we _wouldn't _be here right now."

"Well it doesn't hurt to think there's still hope."

"Oh? And where do you expect that hope to take us Coach? To another supposed evac? Because we all know how that worked out _so_ well last time.

"Y'know, because crashing in a fucking airplane, climbing down a giant fucking tree, and being stranded somewhere in Missouri ain't all that bad." Caroline was starting to get angry. She was sick of putting her life in the hands of a government who'd failed to save them more than once. Daisy cut in,

"Stay purdy you guys, stay purdy." The interruption was in vain as Caroline just kept talking.

"Not to mention, we're _one_ person short!" Nick cut in as well,

"Caroline, that's _enough._" but it was too late. The words were out.

"Well I'd say compared to bein' dragged off by a Smoker, then yeah, crashing in a tree _ain't _all that bad! And maybe if you'd been watching her back better she'd still be here!" Caroline's eyes watered instantaneously. If looks could kill Coach would have been a dead man, six feet under.

"Yeah, because you would know what happened instead. No. You were too busy running ahead of _everyone_ to get to the fucking chopper first.

"You only cared about saving your own fat ass. I ran back to help her! I did all I could've possibly done to help her!" Not wanting anyone to witness her tears Caroline turned and went upstairs to the main part of the house, Rochelle's screams re-entering her mind.

"_Alright ya'll, we only got ten minutes to get to the other side, so as soon as the bridge is down we gotta move, move as quickly as possible." Coach said then pushed the button to lower the bridge. Caroline shouldered her shotgun, opted to use her machete instead. She figured it'd be a helluva lot more useful. As soon as the bridge lowered they were moving._

"_Chase that you zombie sons a bitches!" Ellis threw a pipe bomb. They were surrounded all too soon. They continued to move, didn't take the time to watch the explosion as they'd done a few times prior. The low growl of a Hunter attracted Caroline's attention and she pulled out her shotgun. She searched and caught sight just as it leapt at her. She smacked it with the butt of her weapon and shot it twice before it dropped dead. She shouldered her gun once more and picked up her machete. She looked ahead and saw Nick and Daisy in front of her, Rochelle, and Ellis. Ahead of them was Coach. _

"_There's the chopper!" Caroline couldn't tell who yelled it as she was shooting a Hunter off of Rochelle. She quickly helped her up and handed her a shot of adrenaline,_

"_Come on girl, we can't have you on the ground, we're almost there!" They continued moving, Rochelle between Caroline and Ellis. Caroline cleared any immediate zombies while Ellis shot at any ahead with one pistol as he helped Rochelle along._

_Near the end now, Nick and Daisy got caught up in a mess of zombies. Caroline fished out one of the last pipe bombs from her backpack and lit it before throwing it, still moving all the while. Fortunately, they were closer to the others now._

_The gates were in view,_

"_We're almost there guys!" As soon as the words were out, Rochelle screamed,_

"_Help me!" Caroline whipped around in time to see Rochelle being dragged away, a Smoker tongue wrapped around her torso. She pulled out a pistol and searched frantically for the infected. Once spotted, Caroline ran in the direction Rochelle was being pulled, all the while shooting at the Smoker. When her pistol ran out of ammo she threw it angrily and pulled her second one out, ready to shoot when she heard a loud shriek, more screaming accompanied it. She turned to see a Hunter on top of Ellis,_

"_Get it off! Get it off me dammit!" She pulled her shotgun from her back and ran to Ellis, kicking the infected creature off him before putting two slugs into its body. She pulled Ellis up, Rochelle's screams fading as she was pulled further away._

"_We have to _go_!" Caroline looked to where Rochelle was dragged and bit her lip, 'I'm so sorry girl…' She wasn't even visible anymore. Ellis grabbed her arm and pulled,_

"_Caroline, we gotta go! We can't save her!" Caroline looked to him for a split second before she snapped back to reality. _

_The chopper was so close, the only things in their way were chain link fences. They weaved in and out of said fences when a loud roar could be heard, followed by a frantic scream of,_

"_TANK!" They didn't have anymore molotovs and pipe bombs are useless against the hulking creatures. Caroline pulled her shotgun out once more and started shooting at the Tank, running backward the whole time. When all the shells were gone she tossed the useless weapon aside and pulled out a pistol, trying in vain to affect the monster that was now running toward her. When her pistol clicked empty she hurled it as hard as she could at it,_

"_Fuck _you_ asshole!" The Tank was about five feet from her when it suddenly burst into flames. It yelled in pain and turned around to go after its attackers, abandoning Caroline. She doubled back and ran back to everyone, picking up a submachine gun. She fired at the Tank some more before it finally fell to the ground, lifeless._

_There was a chain link fence and a ramp between them and the helicopter. Coach had already gotten to the chopper. Nick and Daisy weren't far behind._

"_Come on!" Coach yelled when Ellis and Caroline were in hearing distance. _

_Over all the noise Caroline still heard it, but before she could warn Ellis the Charger came from seemingly out of nowhere. Caroline narrowly avoided it, but Ellis hadn't been so lucky._

"_Shoot this god damn bastard!" 'Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.' She looked around frantically for any kind of weapon. The machine gun she'd picked up earlier had long since run out of bullets. She spotted a gun and picked it up, not caring in the least what it was before she started unloading bullets into the Charger until it dropped Ellis and fell to the ground. _

_Caroline pulled him up,_

"_Come on honey, the chopper's _right_ there_!_" He was beat up pretty bad and couldn't move as quickly but Caroline helped him along as fast as he was able and eventually they made it to the chopper. Upon entering, Coach gave a questioning look to them. Caroline could only shake her head as she helped Ellis sit, before sitting herself. She didn't feel safe until the doors completely closed and the helicopter took off._

Caroline didn't know how long she'd been thinking about what happened when Ellis found her on the roof. [It turned out the door to the room leading out there had been a safe house door. (Like in the church in L4D1.)] She'd long since stopped crying but she couldn't stop thinking about the events on the bridge. She almost started again when Ellis sat behind her wordlessly and wrapped his arms around her, his chin on her shoulder.

"Y'alright?" He asked softly after a while, Caroline shrugged,

"Not really." He held out a water bottle,

"Broughtchya some water." She couldn't help but smile and took the offered bottle, opening it to take a drink.

"Thanks El." She sighed, pulling her knees to her chest and rested her head on them, her arms wrapping around her legs. Ellis let her get situated before wrapping his arms back around her.

"Y'know, Coach feels real bad 'bout what he said." Caroline ran a hand through her hair and let out another sigh,

"You know, I don't even care anymore."

"But you seemed really-"

"About any of this Ellis." She interrupted before he could finish and felt him tense up slightly,

"You givin' up?" She shrugged,

"After what happened yesterday, been thinkin' about it." Not wanting to face him, Caroline played with the seal on the water bottle, gazing at the street below.

"I'm just so sick of this…"

"Caroline, you can't-" She interrupted him again,

"She's gone Ellis." Finally, she looked at him,

"Rochelle is dead." She tried desperately to ignore the way he flinched when she said the words and continued,

"Coach was right. It was my fault." She forced out a bitter laugh,

"I'm just glad she's not here to be fucked over by CEDA with us."

"Caroline it wasn't your fault."

"Yes it was."

"No it wasn't. If it was anyone's fault, it was mine. She was behind you, I was behind her. An' I saw you. If that Jumper hadn'ta pounced me you woulda been able to get to her. It was my fault. I wasn't payin' attention." Caroline sighed again, she didn't want Ellis taking blame. She was about to tell him so but he continued,

"Now, we ain't come _all_ this way jus' so you can give up now. So, you gonna stay with me?" She turned her head to look at him, and despite all they had been through she still saw hope in his eyes. So she nodded,

"Okay Ellis, I'll stay with you." He bumped his head gently against her own, making her smile,

"Good."


End file.
